FBI Decision Swings Momentum Back To Clinton

Monday, 7 November: The final day of the marathon US Presidential Election has arrived and Hilary Clinton very much has the momentum as the finish line is in sight. Over the weekend the FBI announced that there would be no criminal charges brought against Clinton following the latest allegations regarding her email practices. The FBI claim to have reviewed 650,000 emails in eight days, “working around the clock”, something Trump is highly doubting. However, with the candidates wrapping up their campaigns today across different key battleground states, polls are slightly swaying towards a Clinton victory.

Some of Tesco Bank customers may have had to change their plans yesterday after money was taken from 20,000 accounts – with customers complaining of money being withdrawn without permission or cards being blocked. To add to their misery/inconvenience, many complained of long waiting times to get through to the bank on the phone. About 40,000 accounts saw suspicious transactions and the bank’s chief executive has said he is “very hopeful” that those who had had money withdrawn would be refunded within 24 hours. Tesco began the day trading c.1% lower, ending the day lower by 1.14%

House prices in the UK have increased, according to the mortgage lender Halifax. House prices jumped by 1.4% in October alone, the largest increase since March. In the three months to October house prices were 5.2% higher than the same period last year, down from 5.8% in September. Annual house price inflation is now at its lowest rate since July 2013 and has nearly halved since the peak of 10% in March this year.

For the crisp lovers amongst us, the price of a bag of Walkers crisps is set to rise 10%. Walkers claim the fall in sterling since the UK chose to leave the EU had pushed up their manufacturing costs. It isn’t the price of potatoes that is set to rise as they are grown in the UK, but Walkers claim the frying oil, seasoning and packaging are all imported, which have subsequently become more expensive. However, it isn’t only the crisp fans that will be affected – Birds Eye, known for the bread crumbed covered fish fingers, also look set to increase prices, blaming, you guessed it, Brexit.

The FTSE 100 reversed Friday’s losses and ended the day +1.70%, benefitting largely from the strengthening dollar. At the time of writing GBP/USD is $1.24, down 0.93%. The FTSE 250 fared well as well, gaining 1.08% at the close. Over in the US, indices look to be ending their losing streak as the Dow Jones is currently +1.84% and the S&P 500 +2.01% at the time of writing.